The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationships among personal characteristics (i.e., age, race, marital status, education level, and years of teaching experience), work environment characteristics (i.e., pay, benefits, type of program, age group of children, and class size), job satisfaction, and turnover intention of…

This Educator Voices report examines the working conditions that impact educator practice and well-being in center-based programs in Flagler and Volusia Counties, Florida. The study documents the experiences of early educators since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and is the first to look at the relationship between educators' future plans and…

This Educator Voices report examines the working conditions that impact educator practice and well-being in center-based programs in Flagler and Volusia Counties, Florida. The study documents the experiences of early educators since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and is the first to look at the relationship between educators' future plans and…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the care crisis in the United States to the fore. Unprecedented closures of child care programs throughout 2020 placed a disproportionate burden on families, and mothers in particular. For parents enrolled in college or considering postsecondary enrollment at the time of the pandemic, the loss of child care services…

Background: Although the contexts, structures and administrations of early childhood education (ECE) may differ internationally, effective pedagogical leadership remains an essential component in supporting young children's development and learning. This paper reports on a comparative study which considered ECE in two different settings, Finland…

For thousands of young children in Hillsborough County, Florida, this story includes unprecedented changes in the care and teaching they receive from adults, all of whom are impacted by the societal upheaval caused by the pandemic. The changes in young children's experiences that began on March 13--the day the U.S. government declared the COVID-19…

The Quality Early Education System (QEES) program is based on a vision where all children arrive at school with the benefit of high-quality positive life experiences that matter for brain development in all of the areas that play critical roles in school success. This vision is greatly needed in Hillsborough County, Florida, where data from 2018…

This study examined the third-grade outcomes of 11,902 low-income Latino children who experienced public school pre-K or child care via subsidies (center-based care) at age 4 in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Regression and propensity score analyses revealed that children who experienced public school pre-K earned higher scores on standardized…

Accreditation is a widely accepted indicator of quality in early education and includes many of the components cited in broad conceptualizations of quality. The purpose of this study was to examine whether kindergarten readiness rates differed between Florida child care facilities that were and were not accredited by any relevant national…

Learning a new language and culture may be particularly difficult for families in the United States supported by migrant workers, who typically work long hours and live a mobile lifestyle. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe the interaction patterns (i.e. use of the Spanish and English languages) among native-Spanish-speaking…

An extensive body of research demonstrates a higher prevalence of obesity among children with developmental delays (DD) versus children without delays. This analysis examined the effectiveness of a randomized controlled trial to promote healthy weight in a subsample of preschool-age children with DD (n = 71) on the adoption of quality nutrition…

Black and Latinx educators make up a critical portion of the early child education (ECE) field; 31% of the center-based workforce and about half of those employed in Head Start. These diverse educators are from communities where the impacts of the pandemic have been the most detrimental -- according to the Centers for Disease Control and…

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS)--a strategy to improve families' access to high-quality child care--assess the quality of child care programs, offer incentives and assistance to programs to improve their ratings, and give information to parents about the quality of child care. These systems are operating in a growing number of…

Objective: To describe and compare obesity prevention practices related to physical activity and beverages in home- and center-based child care programs. Methods: A telephone survey of licensed home- and center-based child care programs in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Washington between October and December 2008. Results: Most programs…

In a previous publication the authors examined selected aspects of the structure and curriculum of fifteen childcare centers located in three geographically distant locations in North America and determined that contrasts within and between the regions in terms of structure and curriculum guided by the National Association for the Education of…